Innovation - Diving Deep into the Definition

Having volunteered for the Theory of Action Task Force  for the Cedar Rapids Community School District, I participated in our third meeting last night. I was surrounded by quite like-minded educators and found myself diving into a deep discussion about innovation. Our task was to create a belief statement that would lead to "Excellence for All" around the big idea of innovation. We had some research discussing innovation to read and we had community input to sort through. 

Much of our discussion centered around how schools are designed to produce little robots that have a uniform way of thinking. We referenced this RSA Animated talk by Sir Ken Robinson as we were discussing this, as the art teacher in my group and I had both seen this short video. We also referenced this article What You Need to Be An Innovative Educator provided to us by the leaders of the Theory of Action Task Force. Two big questions facing us were, "What specifically is innovation?" and "How can we draft a belief statement that isn't full of 'buzzwords'?"

So today, I am thinking about innovation. I am remembering this quote from Bill Gates: "As we look ahead into the next century, leaders will be those who empower others." I also think about the fact that the jobs that exist today - as we know them - aren't going to exist when my 5 year old graduates from high school. When we think about education and the need for innovation, we need to 1.) accept that learning is social, 2.) move to competency-based education and personalized learning models where students have a voice and choice in time, pace, place, and/or path of learning, 3.)use real-time data to make data-driven decisions, 4.) understand that the factory-model style of education disrupts deep-thinking, and 5.) prepare students for careers/jobs that don't exist - yet!

How can we define our belief in innovation? It's really embracing the change and empowering educators to teach students that it's okay to take risks and if you fail - gulp - you pick yourself up and you try again.